Coal mining machine



1952 F. A. LINDGREN 2,619,338

COAL MINING MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VEN TOR.

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fizz 0121M. Lmagren Arrow/5y Nov. 25, 1952 F A. LINDGREN com. MINING MACHINE '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 gN V EN TOR. Hank A, Lmdgran ATToRNEy Filed NOV. 3. 1950 Patented Nov. 25, 1952 COAL MINING MACHINE Frank A. Lindgren, Chicago, 111., assignor to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application November 3, 1950, Serial No. 193,986

Claims. (Cl. 2629) This invention relates to improvements in coal mining machines of the kind adapted for cutting and loading coal from a mine face without an intermediate blasting operation. Various forms of such machines, designed to remove the coal from the solid working face and commonly referred to as continuous mining machines, have heretofore been proposed and employed but such machines have generally been too complicated and costly for economical operation under prevailing conditions in most coal mines.

' The principal object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the character above described which is relatively simple in constructionand operation, employing as its cutting element a relatively large cutter disc rotatable generally in a vertical plane and mounted on the end of a horizontally and vertically swinging boom, which also carries with it a gathering mechanism, collecting the cuttings as they are removed by the cutting disc.

Two important advantages of the present invention are that (1) coal is mined at a great saving in power by reason of the disc structure and (2) there is a large percentage of desirable lump coal produced by reason of breaker formations on the back side of the disc which serve to break off; the outstanding core when the disc is buried behind the mine face.

Conventional cutting and loading machines which utilize cutter chains as all or part of their structure are wasteful of power because of friction between the cutter chains and the corresponding cutter bars and gibs. Since such frictional loss may account for more than 50% of the total power required by the chains it will be apparent that the present disc arrangement, which eliminates chains altogether, and still produces a high percentage of lump coal by reason of the breaker formations, is inherently more efiicient and can operate with a much smaller motor.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from time to time as the description proceeds.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

.Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention, showing the cutting and collecting mechanism in full lines extending forwardly of the machine body as the machine is operating in a mine room;

Figure 2 is an enlarged, detailed plan view of the front end of the machine, including the cutting and collecting mechanism in the same position shown in full lines in Figure 1, but with parts broken away to show certain details of construction;

Figure 3 is a side view with parts shown in irregular section of the cutting and gathering mechanism shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary side view of the rear end of the machine support;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary, detailed view somewhat similar to Figure 4 but with the extreme rear end of the discharge conveyor and with parts of the conveyor and machine support shown in longitudinal section;

Figure 6 is an enlarged, detailed vertical section taken substantially along line 6-6 of Fi ure 1;

Figure 7 is a detailed section taken on line 'i-! of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary detailed view taken generally along line 8-8 of Figure 3 and looking from the front end of the cutting and collecting mechanism with the cutter disc removed and with portions of the collecting mechanism broken away;

Figure 9 is a detailed section taken on line 9--9 of Figure 3;

Figure 10 is a detailed section taken on line Iii-40 of Figure 2;

Figure 11 is a detailed section taken on line |ll| of Figure 2;

Figure 12 is a fragmentary detailed section taken on line l2-l2 of Figure 11.

Referrin now to details of the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, 10 indicates generally a base for the machine having a pair of endless treads H, II at opposite sides thereof for transporting the machine during mining operations. The endless treads may be of conventional design trained around idler sprockets l2, l2 near the front end of the base and drive sprockets I3, I 3 near the rear of the base, the intermediate portions of the treads engaging supports l4, l4 horizontally extending between the front and rear sprockets. The two treads may, as usual, be independently driven as by electric motors l6 mounted adjacent opposite sides of the base and each connected through suitable gear reductions indicated generally at I! to a drive sprocket l5 and drive chain Hi to a drive sprocket i9 fixed on the tread sprocket l3 for each tread. The drive motors l6, I6 may be provided as usual with suitable individual controls (not shown) permitting variable speed and reversible drive of the two endless tread devices independently of each other for manoeuvering 3 the machine during the cutting and transporting operations.

A turntable 29 of relatively large diameter is mounted at the front end of the base In to support the cutting and gathering mechanism for lateral swinging movement across the front end and to opposite sides of the base. In the form shown herein, the turntable comprises a ringshaped plate 2| rotatably mounted within a flanged marginal guide ring 22 forming part of the base [6 and having superposed inwardly extending annular retaining plates 23 detachably secured to the base to hold the outer edge of the turntable in place. The inner edge of the ringshaped plate 2| is rotatably mounted about an upstanding centrally disposed boss 25 which, as herein shown, is formed integrally with the base l6.

Suitable means may be provided for rotating the turntable by power. As herein shown, such means includes a cable 26 which is wound around the outer periphery of the turntable with its two free ends extending rearwardly in generally parallel relation to each other and passing about sheaves 2'! which are connected to the rear ends of pistons 28, 28 extending from hydraulic cylinders 29, 29 mounted on the base II] to the rear of the turntable. The extreme free ends of the cables 26 are suitably anchored to the inner sides of the cylinders 29. Hydraulic control means of any well-known type may be provided for supplying hydraulic pressure alternately to the front and rear ends of the hydraulic cylinders 29, 29 so as to cause the turntable to be rotated by power. Such hydraulic control means is old and well known in the art so further details need not be shown nor described herein, as it forms no essential part of the present invention.

A yoke 40 is associated with the boom 38 and has, at the rear end of each a spaced arm 4!, a journal box 8 containing a bearing sleeve 9 within which one or the other of the trunnions 3! is rotatably journalled. Thus the boom 30 is mounted for vertical swinging movement about the axis of trunnions 3|, 3!. The boom is normally adapted to extend in a generally downwardly inclined position over the proximate edge of the turntable and carries thereon a cutting element indicated generally at 32, and a gathering element indicated generally at 35 disposed below said cutting element, with a centrally disposed endless flight conveyor 36 extending along the boom to a point of discharge at the rear end of the latter. As will be seen in Figures 3 and 6, the flight conveyor 36 is arranged to be discharged into a hopper indicated generally at 38, the forward end of which is fixed on the upstanding central portion of the main frame within the limits of the rotating portion 2| of the turntable 20 and, for this reason, the trunnion supporting arms 4!, 4| are preferably arched upwardly and inwardly over the edge of the hopper 38, as shown in Figure 3, so that the trunnioned axis of the boom, which coincides with the axis of the idler sprocket shaft 39 about which the rear end of the flight conveyor 36 is trained, is disposed in material-discharging relation over the hopper.

The boom 36 includes a trough formation 42 connected at its forward end to a pair of crossconnected chain-type gathering devices 44, 44 adapted to rest on the mine floor during certain periods of the cutting operation, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Intermediate the ends of the boom is a bridge 4 member 45 fixed to the beam members 42, 42 substantially above the flight conveyor 36 as shown in Figure 10. In the form shown herein, said bridge member is integral with the side beams and has a centrally disposed pivot support '48 with a vertical pivot pin 49 on which the rear end of an auxiliary boom or cutter frame 50 is hinged to permit said auxiliary boom to swing on a limited arc in a, plane substantially parallel to and above the gathering mechanism of the gathering devices of the gathering conveyor 36.

The auxiliary boom 55 has a cutter disc 5| rotatably mounted at its front end on an axis substantially perpendicular to the axis of hinged swinging movement of said cutter frame. The entire cutter frame is bodily moved or swung about its axis by a pair of hydraulic cylinders 55, 55 with cooperating pistons and piston rods 56. In the form shown herein, the rear ends of the hydraulic cylinders 55 are pivotally connected to the outer ends of the bridge member 45 and the forward ends of the piston rods 56 are pivotally connected to ears 51, 57 formed on the sides of the motor casing 52 on the cutter frame, to be described later (see Figures 2, 8 and 10).

The forward end of the auxiliary boom 50 is supported for horizontal swinging movement relative to the main boom 39 by a horizontally disposed bearing plate 59 supported on spaced upstanding struts 69, 60 supported in turn on the aprons of gathering devices 44, 44 as shown in Figure 8. The auxiliary boom 50 has a skid portion 6| adjacent its forward end which slidably engages the bearing plate 59 while said axuiliary boom is pivotally swung about its hinged axis defined by pivot pin 49.

The entire boom 36, including the gathering devices 44 and swinging cutter head 32 on auxiliary boom 56, is adapted to be elevated by power when desired for transporting the machine or for cutting at different levels above the mine floor. As shown herein, the power elevating means includes a pair of hydraulic cylinders 62 and cooperating piston rods 63: the lower ends of the cylinder being pivotally connected to the front ends of the yoke arms 4|, 4| mounted on the turntable 2E]; and the ends of the piston rods 63 being pivotally connected to cars 64, 64 adjacent the outer ends of the bridge member 45 of the boom (see Figures 2 and 3).

Referring now in greater detail to the details of construction of the gathering devices 44, 44, these devices are of the type shown in Patent No. 2,183,383, which have heretofore been employed in loading machines so that further details thereof need not be described herein excepting to point out that the gathering elements of the gathering devices consist generally of a pair of endless chains 65, 65 orbitally movable about elongated guide bars 66, B6 and with gathering arms 61, 61 extending laterally therefrom and pivotally mounted to swing upwardly and downwardly with respect thereto as said gathering arms move over undulating gathering aprons 68, 68 surrounding the guide bars 66, and joined to each other by a horizontal apron 69 between said guide bars and in front of the flight conveyor 36. The guide bars 66 extend along opposite sides of the elevating conveyor 36 at the front end thereof, said chain guides being disposed in rearwardly diverging paths so that loose material falling upon the gathering chains or upon the aprons 68 or 69 will be deposited upon the flight conveyor 36 for transportation upwardly along the boom.

The gathering chains 65 of the gathering elements are each driven from a sprocket at the rear end of the guide bars 66 and a sprocket shaft H extending downwardly to a bevel gear I2 meshed with a bevel gear 13 fixed on a cross shaft 14. Said cross shaft passes through a channelled central portion 15 of the boom 3%) wherein the elevating conveyor 36 is supported (see Figure 9). A pair of conveyor chain drive sprockets 16, 16 are also fixed on the cross shaft 14 for driving engagement with the chains 35a, 36a at opposite sides of the flight conveyor 36 for driving the latter.

The cross shaft 14 is driven from a pair of motors 18, 18 mounted on the opposite sides of the boom immediately to the rear of the gathering devices, as shown in Figures 3 and 10. The drive connections between each motor and the corresponding end of the cross shaft 14 is provided through a motor pinion 19 and a gear 80 on a forwardly extending stub shaft 82. The lattershaft has a beveled pinion 83 at its front end connected to a beveled gear 8 1 fixed on the outer end of the cross shaft M (see Figure 9).

The lower reach of the conveyor chains 36a pass over idlers B5 to the rear of their drive sprockets 16 and also over idlers 86 at the front end of the conveyor, as shown in Figure 3.

The cutter disc 5| of the cutting element has a recessed front face formed by a rearwardly and inwardly curved web 90 connecting its hub 9i with an outwardly flanged periphery 92. The disc is rotatably mounted on an outwardly skirted peripheral portion 93 of a gear casing 94 (see Figure 2). Said gear casing is connected to motor housing 52 which in turn is connected at its rear end to a frame member 95 hinged to the pivot pin 49 about which the entire cutter frame 50 is hinged, as previously described. Suitable gear reduction mechanism is provided in the gear casing 94 for rotating the cutter disc at a suitable cutting speed from motor 96 in housing 52. As shown herein, said gear mechanism comprises a motor pinion 95 meshed with a, gear 95a on stub shaft 91 rotatably mounted within the casing. Said stub shaft has a gear 98 on its forward end meshed with a gear 99 on a second stub shaft I00, which has its front end mounted concentrically with and bearing on the hub 9! of the cutter disc. The drive from shaft It!) to the hub 9! which carries the cutter bits 105 is as follows: a sun gear 99a is carried by shaft I00. The sun gear meshes with a plurality of planet gears I02 which are carried by, and rotatable with, the hub 9|. The planet gears, in turn, mesh with stationary ring gear 12a which is fixedly mounted at the front end of the gear casing 14.

Suitable cutter bits I05, I05 are mounted on the outer flanged periphery 92 of the cutter disc, in the form shown said cutter bits being preferably bifurcated so as to cut a kerf substantially wider than said flanged outer periphery.

The rear inwardly curved faces of the cutter disc web 90 between its flanged periphery 92 and the hub Si is provided with a series of radially extending ribs I06 as shown in Figures 11 and 12, so as to aid in breaking the coal away from the face after it has been undercut by the cutter bits, as will hereinafter be more fully described.

The cuttings brought rearwardly by and discharged from the flight conveyor 36 into the hopper 33 transported rearwardly of the machine frame by a flight conveyor llfl which may be of the central chain type heretofore commonly employed in cutting and loading machines of the general character herein disclosed so that further description of details of the discharge conveyor need not be described herein excepting to point out that the front end of the conveyor, together with its receiving hopper, is mounted on a fixed part of the main frame In within the circular portion of the turntable so as to receive the cuttings from the elevating conveyor 36 on the boom 30 in all permissible positions of swinging movement of said boom.

The use and operation of the machine above described is as follows:

The range of swinging movement of the main boom and turntable is substantially greater than degrees across the front and to opposite sides of the main frame, whereas the range of movement of the auxiliary boom 50 with respect to the main boom 30 is relatively small but sufiicient to provide clearance for the cutter disc 32 to be shifted between left cutting and right cutting angular positions relative to the boom, depending upon which direction the entire boom is being swung during a cutting operation. In the present instance, the rearwardly extending discharge conveyor H0 is of sufficiently limited width where it extends rearwardly from the receiving hopper 38 across the rear margin of the turntable, to permit an angular movement of approximately 196 degrees of the main boom 30 with the turntable. The total angular swing of the auxiliary boom 50 relative to the main boom is approximately 35 degrees.

In mining coal with the machine, the machine is moved bodily into position centrally of a room or entry, as shown in Figure 1, where the advance or working face A has been previously cut on a wide arc. The main boom 30 is swung to one side, for example clockwise to the right side to its limit, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. In this position, the auxiliary boom is then about 1'7 degrees to the right of the longitudinal center line of the main boom, so that the forward cutting edge of the cutter disc 32 is substantially lined with the longitudinal axis of the main boom but rotatable in a plane at an obtuse angle thereto. The boom 30 is lowered so that the gathering devices 44, 44 rest upon the mine floor in sliding engagement therewith.

With the cutter disc 32 rotating counterclockwise when looking from the rear toward the front of the machine, the main boom 30 is swung by power toward the left, cutting a new face along an arcuate line indicated at B in Figure 1. As the cutter disc buries itself beneath the working face A, the outstanding core defined between the face A and the new line of cut B will be broken off by engagement by the ribs Hi6 on the inner face of the cutter disc. To complete the cut, the boom is swung to its extreme left limit, approximately 98 degrees beyond center. When it is clear of the side wall or rib, the auxiliary boom 50 can be swung about its minor axis to its extreme left limit to condition it for a reverse out. In its new position, the cutter disc is rotatable in a plane at a reversed obtuse angle to the longitudinal axis of the main boom, with its forward cutting edge substantially lined with said axis.

In order to increase the height of the working face, the main boom 30 may be raised to a higher level, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, and the boom, with its cutter disc now at its extreme left limit, is swung in reverse direction to complete a second arcuate cut at a higher level from left to right. Under most conditions, only two such successive arcuate cuts are re- 7 quired for advancing the main Working face to the full height of the machine but, if desired, the working face can be made substantially higher than the machine by more than two arcuate cuts at diiierent levels, with the machine base remaining in the same position.

After a completely new Working face has been cut to its desired height, as above described, the machine may then be trammed forward a distance equivalent to the depth desired for the next cut. of a new working face, whereupon the cutting operation above described may be repeated.

It will be understood that substantially all the coal broken down from the face will be deposited directly upon the gathering devices immediately beneath the cutting edge of the cutter disc 32 and will be carried rearwardly by the elevating conveyor 36 and transferred to the discharge conveyor H for final loading into mine cars or other transporting means at the rear of the machine. Any loose coal which may drop on the floor of the mine during a cutting operation will be cleaned up when the gathering devices make their next successive swinging movement along the mine floor.

Although I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction shown and described, but

that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a mining machine, a base having mobile supporting means, a main boom supported on said base for vertical and horizontal swinging movement relative thereto, an auxiliary boom having a cutting element on its outer end with cutter bits moving orbitally in a plane generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said auxiliary boom, said auxiliary boom being supported on said main boom for limited horizontal swinging movement relative thereto, to adjust said cutting element to reversely obtuse angles at opposite sides of the longitudinal axis to said main boom.

2. A mining machine in accordance with claim 1, wherein the forward cutting edge of said cutting element is substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the main boom, in the reversed angular positions of said auxiliary boom.

3. In a mining machine, a base having mobile supporting means, a main boom supported on said base for vertical and horizontal swinging movement relative thereto, gathering means on the end of said boom adapted for sweeping engagement with the ground in one position, an auxiliary boom having a cutting element on its outer end with cutter bits moving orbitally in a plane generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said auxiliary boom, said auxiliary boom being supported on said main boom for horizontal swinging movement relative thereto in a plane above said gathering means, to adjust said cutting element to reversed obtuse angles at opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of said main boom.

4. A mining machine in accordance with claim 3, wherein the forward cutting edge of said cutting element is substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the main boom, in the reversed angular positions of said auxiliary boom.

5. In a mining machine, a base having mobile supporting means, a main boom supported on said base for vertical and horizontal swinging movement relative thereto, gathering means on the end of said boom adapted for sweeping engagement with the ground in one position of vertical adjustment of said main boom, an auxiliary boom having a cutting element on its outer end with cutter bits moving orbitally in a plane generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said auxiliary boom, said auxiliary boom being supported on said main boom for horizontal swinging movement relative thereto in a plane above said gathering means, to adjust said cutting element toward opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of said main boom and at reversely obtuse angles to said axis, the main boom being swingable with said turntable through a range of substantially more than degrees and the auxiliary boom being swingable relative to said main boom through an arc of at least twice the total lateral span of said cutting element.

FRANK A. LINDGREN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 981,201 Kuhn Jan. 10, 1911 1,314,011 Morgan Aug. 26, 1919 2,105,505 Ramsay Jan. 18, 1938 

